Sonic Earth: It All Begins Again
by GoldLeafGardenia
Summary: The adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog begin with a big bang! When a young Sonic defeats Dr. Robotnik's ultimate machine, it comes back at him in a few years when Robotnik comes back with many new plans. Now Sonic and his friends must defend Mobius from the notorious mad scientist, along with just living life. Enjoy the first installment of this re-imagining of Sonic the Hedgehog!
1. Chapter 1

**SONIC EARTH**

**IT ALL BEGINS AGAIN**

**PROLOGUE: AN AVERAGE DAY FOR A HERO**

Among the thousands of constellations and space clouds, floating with all of planets near and far, stood Mobius. The large, blue planet, with seven strange, tiny glowing brightly on it's surface, floated peacefully among the stars, quietly observing the scene before it.

Just outside of Mobius's orbit stood none other than a giant, circular spaceship with dark, glass eyes and enormous metal mustache: The Death Egg. the perpetual silence of space was quickly drowned out by metallic hisses, clicks, and whirrs deep inside the spaceship as it was prepared for world domination. Doomsday was well on its way.

That is, until the Death Egg began to ring with a loud, alarming beeping. Red lights began to blink on an off to signal what was wrong: It was an intruder!

_**KA-BOOM!**_

There was a blinding flash of light right before the bottom right side of the Death Egg exploded, sending smoke and debris out into space along with a tiny, golden form.

Dodging destroyed weapons, said golden form flew away from the explosion and up the spaceship, the metal armor almost touching the tips of his gloved fingers and shoes.

Right as the form flew above the left glass "eye" of the ship, it dove down so quickly and abruptly it would've been impossible to follow. The glass of the eye shattered upon impact, followed by another huge explosion from the energy the form gave off, destroying both "eyes" and leaving gaping holes in the formerly refined, rounded fortress.

The form continued flying, deeper and deeper into the fortress. Dodging robots that tried to shoot him and ricocheting off of boxes of supplies and metal bridges until, finally, he reached the very core. Among the chaos, the red lights and the metal pipes and gear, the form glowed brighter with each second that passed. The brightness grew stronger and stronger, until it was competing with the sun's light. Finally, for a split second, the light blinked, and the entire Death Egg exploded, sending destroyed robots, weapons, and supplies rocketing in all directions.

"_Noooo!_" Just barely escaping the explosion, a tiny red and black-and-yellow stripped hovercraft flew out of the Death Egg, the word "Eggmobile" inscribed on the side of the tiny craft and a protective glass at the top, safely keeping inside the very round-looking man wearing black pants, a red jacket, yellow collar and blue glasses that obscured his eyes.

"My Death Egg!" The man shouted, hands gripping his bald head so hard that both his fingers and head began to hurt. Furious, he pounded the dashboard of the Eggmobile with his fists; just before a golden glow caught his eye. "_Sonic!_" He roared, "You little…YOU LITTLE…!"

The glowing form floated a good ten feet away. He had finally stopped moving and allowed the man to get a good look at his most infuriating enemy to date. A small Mobian hedgehog who was barely more than eleven years old. His golden fur gleaming with a bright aura that his red and white-buckle shoes reflected. Sonic the Hedgehog in his super form: Super Sonic.

"S'up, Doc?" Super Sonic asked, as casual as ever.

Dr. Robotnik had already hurt his head from gripping it so hard, and his dashboard couldn't take anymore violent hits, so he instead resorted to gripping his thick, bushy mustache. "You just destroyed my spaceship!" He roared, stating the obvious.

Grinning, Super Sonic looked down at the remains of what was once a brilliant, armed fortress. That was what he had come for. He had traveled for so long with his friends to finally defeat this thing. Now there was nothing but the floating remains of an empty metal shell surrounded by debris rapidly floating away from it.

All the supersonic hedgehog said was "Yep!"

"The Death Egg was my most brilliant plan! It was my one way ticket to dominating the world!"

"It was also was your only ticket, I bet."

"I WAS SO CLOSE TO ESTABLISHING MY EMPIRE, AND YOU RUINED IT!"

"Yeah…guess I was kinda last minute, huh?"

"You-you-YOU-i_YOU!_"

"Me, me, me, me." Super Sonic shrugged, placing his hands behind his head and leaning back in a sitting position. "So, Doc, we gonna finish this, or what?"

"OH, I'LL BE HAPPY TO FINISH YOU OFF HERE, RUNT!" Dr. Robotnik furiously slammed his entire hand onto a red button on the dashboard. Immediately a slot opened on the side of the Eggmobile, and a metallic hand holding a laser gun extended out, the tip of the gun pointed directly at Sonic. However, just before the trigger had been pulled, the hedgehog disappeared, moving so fast that Robotnik didn't even see him when he spin-dashed through the gun and hand, shattering both in a millisecond.

"Oh, come on!" Super Sonic said, standing on the glass right above the stunned Robotnik's head. The hero kneeled down and rapped the glass with a knuckle. "Is that all? I thought this was gonna be fun!" He sighed and shrugged before the dumbfounded scientist. "Oh well. Hold on tight, Doc!"

"W-_what the-!?_" Super Sonic disappeared again, and suddenly Dr. Robotnik lurged upwards for a second. "HEY! Knock that off!" Robotnik shouted all sorts of insults as Super Sonic grabbed the rim of the engine at the bottom of the craft, and began flying downwards towards Mobius.

Quickly, the dark, starry sky turned into a deep, late-afternoon blue as the two forms reentered Mobius' atmosphere. The Eggmobile's metal became hot, but thankfully it was only the outer shell, so the terrified, howling Dr. Robotnik inside could hold on to the beaten-up dashboard for dear life. Super Sonic didn't even feel the heat, his super form's energy quickly neutralized the burning, keeping his hand holding the hovercraft safe as he dragged it down. As he concentrated on staying in control of his flight, all he felt was the cold wind ripping at his face, making his eyes tear up, and he loved it.

Plummeting down, down, down, Super Sonic dragged the Eggmobile and Dr. Robotnik through layers of clouds, the freezing water inside quickly cooling the Eggmobile's metal. Reluctantly, Super Sonic began slowing down a bit to keep from losing all control as they grew closer to the ground. It was a pity though, he was having fun!

Exploding out of the clouds, Super Sonic saw the land beneath him touching the horizon on all sides. Greens, grays, and blues swam before his vision, all patched with sunlight poking out of the clouds. Looking around for a place to land-and simply just enjoying the view-Super Sonic spotted a large lake surrounded by a lush, green field and grinned. i_Perfect!/i_

Shifting his aim a little and letting go of the engine, Super Sonic leapt upwards to the top of the Eggmobile, pressed his hands against the glass cover, and began pushing with all of his might. It was harder to keep control from the top, but it wasn't anything he couldn't manage.

While on his way down, Super Sonic couldn't resist grinning cheekily as his enemy. "Having fun!?" He shouted over the wind.

Dr. Robotnik shouted something through the glass, and although

Super Sonic couldn't hear it, he had the suspicion that the scientist had said something along the lines of what was not appropriate for a kid to hear.

_**SPLASH! **_The Eggmobile finally landed in the lake with a splash so loud and large it was as if a bomb went off in the water. Water flew in all directions, and the Eggmobile was pushed into the depths, before fighting it's way back up.

Leaping out of the water, the Eggmobile floated pathetically in the water, with a trembling and dizzy Dr. Robotnik inside. Blinking a few times to clear the stars out of his eyes, the mad scientist noticed his enemy had gone and began looking for him through the cracked glass, but he was nowhere to be found.

Until he heard a series of soft _tinks_ from behind. Whipping around in his chair-which abruptly snapped and sent him slamming into the rear dashboard-Dr. Robotnik saw the supersonic runt lying across a small rock island a few mere feet away, nonchalantly tossing small pebbles against his wrecked craft.

"Really, Doc?" The hedgehog asked, sounding annoyed. "Was that it? After going nuts over come crazy spaceship for a good few months, that's all the challenge I get? _Really?_ And after I smash it to bits, you try to take me down with a _gun? _Just a single gun? Seriously!?" He shook his head.

It was all that Robotnik could do to just half-sit, half-stand on his broken chair and just stare at the runt and sputter complete nonsense.

But really, who could blame him after being dragged all the way down from outer space to the ground in a mere two minutes, against his will at that?

As he tried to regain his composure, Robotnik watched as Super Sonic's energy began to wear off. The golden aura around the hedgehog faded, his upturned quills settled back into their streamlined position, and his golden fur slowly turned into light blue. Super Sonic faded away, leaving the hero of Mobius in its place, Sonic the Hedgehog.

"So, are we _really_ going to finish this, or are you just gonna run away?" Sonic asked sincerely, balancing a round pebble on his fingertips. "Is there anything else you got up your sleeve? 'Cause you generally try to surprise me."

Dr. Robotnik's response was to simply press a red button on the dashboard. Immediately, Sonic saw an explosion of steam on the horizon, just out of the corner of his eye.

There was a huge rush of cold wind that sent a wave of water roaring across the lake. Sonic barely managed to avoid getting drenched as a giant, humanoid robot flew by-flying almost as fast as he could run-and in a flash Robotnik was gone along with the robot.

Sonic sighed, "Yeah, I figured." He didn't bother to follow for two reasons. One was that he didn't know where they went, and the other was that the battle was over for now. This was how it always went, Sonic defeated Robotnik's machines and the mad scientist ran off to formulate another crazy scheme.

"Sonic!"

A familiar voice caused Sonic's ears to prick up towards the sky. Looking up, he grinned when he saw a red seaplane, the Tornado, flying above his head, piloted by Miles "Tails" Prower. The Mobian fox toddler inside waved heartily. "_Hiiiiii!" _He shouted over the noise of the propeller.

"Hey, kid!" Sonic yelled back, waving. He watched incredulously as the four-year-old (yes, the _four-year-old_) brought the Tornado down and landed it expertly. Freezing cold steam rose from the buoys that replaced the wheels and billowed out behind the red plane. Tails easily turned the Tornado so as it gradually slowed it stopped right in front of Sonic's island. Even though Sonic has seen him do this before it still always impressed him.

"Hey kiddo," Sonic said, "You okay-_ack!_" He yelped out in surprise when suddenly as he was tackled down by the fox. Clumsily, he stumbled backwards and helplessly fell on his back. "Hey!"

"That was _awesome!_" Tails yelled in his ear, practically hopping up and down on his stomach, talking a mile a minute. "I was flying just above the clouds and I saw the spaceship, and I saw you blow it up!" He punched the air, mimicking explosion sound effects for emphasis. "And then I saw you drag Dr. Robotnik down, and I followed you guys and then I saw you drop him into the lake! And-and-and-!" He was so ecstatic that he took to the air, spinning his twin tails around like a helicopter. "_That was just so COOL!_"

"Okay, okay!" Laughing, Sonic stood up, rubbing his triangular ears as an attempt to soothe his aching eardrums and watching Tails fly around him excitedly, before he finally calmed down enough to land. As he did, Sonic took a grand bow. "I, the Hero of Mobius, gratefully thank thee for such praise. Thank you, thank you, thank you." He took a separate bow to punctuate each "thank you", resembling a bobble-head as he did so.

Tails doubled over laughing, and Sonic grinned. It was always easy to make little kids laugh.

When Tails had gotten a hold of himself, Sonic finally spoke up. "So squirt, care to give me the scoop?" Thinking of a red, short-tempered echidna and a very, _very _clingy pink hedgehog, he asked. "What happened to Knux and Ames?"

"Amy's gone to the nearby town," Tails said. "She told me she's going to set up the victory party for you. Knuckles is with her."

_A celebration huh?_ Sonic grinned. _Yeah, I guess we deserve that, after saving everybody!_ Playfully he ruffled the kit's fur. "Well, what're we waiting for? We deserve some celebration for, y'know, SAVING THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!"

"Yeah!" Tails agreed. Quickly, the boys ran to the Tornado, Tails leaping in the cockpit while Sonic hopped up onto the wing of the plane, both of them were excited for some fun.

_Even if it means getting the life squeezed out of me by Amy…_Sonic couldn't resist a shudder. _Girls are weird._

Amy had certainly gone all out with the preparations. The nearby town was almost too small to host the giant celebration. When Sonic and Tails flew in on the plane, they were immediately surrounded by a group of Mobian children, all pining to get a look at their savior (and possibly his autograph). And of course, Sonic was glomped by Amy the very second the crazy fans had been satisfied.

Sonic could barely utter a squeak of alarm as Amy practically hugged the life out of him. "Sonic!" The pink eight-year-old squealed, her voice was so high pitched Sonic could barely hear it. "I knew you could do it! I just knew it!"

Sonic, unable to speak, tried to wiggle out of her grip. Only to groan when the hedgehog impossibly hugged him tighter-and he thought he heard something crack. "Hey-! Can't-breathe-!"

"Oh!" Amy quickly let him go, and Sonic promptly collapsed on the ground. "Sonic I'm so, so, _so_ sorry!" She kneeled down to try and help him up. "Are you okay?" She asked urgently, her voice taking on a grossly sweet tone of sympathy.

Gasping, Sonic stumbled to his feet. Behind him Tails stood in the cockpit, looking concerned. "I'm…cool…" He gasped, grateful for the cool air filling his lungs again.

"Oh, thank goodness." Amy exhaled in relief…right before she went right back into "fan girl-mode" as Sonic would put it. "You were _sooo_ heroic!" She squealed, hopping up and down. "We saw everything from here! You were so brave! I've never seen anything like it!"

Sonic grinned. "Heh, ah it was nothin'."

"What do you mean!? It was _everything!_ You were AMAZING!"

"Be careful, kid." Another voice caught everybody's attention. "You're giving him an even bigger head."

Turning around, Sonic saw that a certain red echidna had come over, holding a fairly large, green emerald in his arms. It was Knuckles. "Oh, hey Knux." Sonic said.

"Sonic." Knuckles replied evenly, nodding his acknowledgement.

"That the Master Emerald?" Sonic pointed to the green gem.

"Yep. Safe and sound." The echidna looked at the Master Emerald and smiled with the tenderness of a father.

"I thought it was bigger."

"It was, but as her guardian I can ask her to change her size." Knuckled explained. "I wished she could have shrunk a little more though, so she would be more inconspicuous." He gave a suspicious glare of a Mobian Mouse who has curiously approached him, eyeing the gem. She backed off immediately. "But she is still regaining her power."

'_She'? 'Her'? Geez, either this guy is really whacko or- _Sonic's thoughts were cut off by what Amy said.

"Y'know, you don't have to stay." She told Knuckles, looking rather annoyed. "If you wanna get going, then go!"

Knuckles narrowed his eyes. "That sure isn't what you said before." He replied angrily. "You downright _forced_ me to stay!"

"That's 'cause Sonic wasn't here yet!"

Knuckled snerked. "Oh yeah, you should have heard her." The twelve-year-old mimicked Amy's loud, high-pitched voice, which was downright terrible-sounding with his unusually deep voice. "'No! You can't go yet! Not until Sonic's here! He needs as much attention as he can get! Please wait! Please! Please! Please!"

Amy was positively fuming, Sonic was biting his lip to keep from cracking up, and Tails could be heard muffling his giggles into the Tornado's control panel.

"Well, that was the past!" Amy snapped. "So get out of here!"

"No problem!" Knuckled replied, just as loudly. He looked at the Master Emerald, and Sonic's suspicion that he was a little crazy was confirmed when he said in a softer tone, "C'mon girl. Let's get you back to the Island."

"Oh, hey Knuckles!" Tails suddenly called. The little kid hopped out of the Tornado and hurried over to the older boy. "I've been meanin' to ask you somethin'."

"Shoot, kid."

"Where _is_ Angel Island, anyway?"

"North from here. That's all I'm saying in front of you two." Knuckles looked pointedly as Sonic and Amy. "I'm not having you two trespassing…_again_." He glared at Sonic.

Sonic put on his most innocent face. "Who? Me?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Later." He turned around and ran off, surprisingly fast for the cumbersome emerald in his arms.

"Good riddance," Amy muttered furiously, crossing her arms.

"Yeesh Amy, chill out." Sonic said, albeit somewhat nervously. He knew about what Amy could do when she was in a bad mood, and she was already on the edge. "Breathe." He added a little urgently. Tails hurried behind him, looking at the girl apprehensively.

Amy sighed heavily, silently using the counting technique and calming down at twenty-one. "I'm good…" She muttered. Sonic and Tails exchanged glances, before finally letting out sighs of relief in unison.

"So Ames, you planned this entire party?" Sonic asked.

Amy brightened a little, "Yeah."

"Nod bad at all." Sonic said, admiring the decorations. Streamers hung from trees and off of buildings. Balloons seemed to be tethered to every corner of…everything actually. There were signs that said "Congratulations, Sonic!" or "Here's to Our Hero!" among many other variations. The town's citizens were everywhere, at picnic tables or lemonade stands, some children were even playing with confetti cannons in the cobblestone street.

Amy smiled. "Only for the best!"

Sonic grinned. "So what are we waiting for? Let's party!"

For the rest of the day, the entire town enjoyed the party, but out of all of them Sonic, Tails, and Amy enjoyed themselves the most. This was because they were all so grateful that, after their big adventure, they finally had time to relax. They had time away from Dr. Robotnik, totally oblivious that the mad scientist had just begun planning on his next move.

Deep in his base in the South, Dr. Robotnik confidently began organizing his work, knowing that these ideas would definitely one-up that hedgehog and allow him to take over Mobius. Unfortunately, with everything he had in mind it would take a long time for the plans to be finished and executed.

But it would be worth it.


	2. Chapter 2

**SONIC EARTH**

**IT ALL BEGINS AGAIN**

**CHAPTER 1: VISITING A FRIEND**

_ The celebration had lasted well through the day, all of the Mobians in the town had participated. It was only until twilight did people start to tire out and head in for the night, until finally only two hedgehogs and one twin-tailed fox were left outside._

_ Just on the outskirts of the small town, up in one of the trees, Sonic dozed happily. The ordeals of the day, chasing after Robotnik, destroying the Death Egg, and having a celebration had left him a bit tired._

_ The sun peeked through a gap in the treetop, turning the green leaves orange and glowing in Sonic's face. Lying on a thick branch with his back against the trunk of the tree, his hands behind his head, Sonic took a moment to look out of the leaves surrounding him. The little gap among the leaves revealed a deep orange sky along with Mobius' neighboring planets sharing it along streaks of white cloud. Illuminating it all was an even deeper-orange sun setting into the horizon, staring right at him as if thanking him for what he did today._

_ Sonic smiled contently, closing his eyes once more and enjoying the sun's warmth on his face._

_ "Sonic!"_

_ With a sigh, Sonic opened his eyes again and rolled over so he was looking downwards. At the base of the tree he spotted Amy waving up to him._

_ Another sigh. "Yeah, Amy?"_

_ "The train's getting ready to go, I gotta get going!" During the party, Amy had told Sonic that by the evening the train heading for her village would be departing. "And I…" Amy seemed to get a little shy, she looked downwards and scuffed her sneaker against the roots of the tree. "…I just wanted to say goodbye."_

_ "Oh, okay." Sonic didn't notice how Amy's shyness seemed to immediately evaporate. Instead it was replaced with an incredulous enthusiasm. "R-really!?"_

_ Expecting, hoping, inwardly pleading for something along the lines of a high-five, Sonic decided to be nice and comply. After all, this would be the last time he'd see a friend and number-one fan (next to Tails, of course) for a while at least. So Sonic leapt out of the tree and in front of Amy-_

_ -and immediately regretted it._

_ Sonic squeaked loudly when suddenly Amy locked her thin arms around him and began squeezing the life out of him for the second time that day. "Amy!"_

_ "Oh Sonic!" Amy wailed into his ear. "I'm gonna miss you __**so much!**__"_

_ "Ames! C'mon! I-I can't breathe!" Sonic choked out, feeling his airways being pressed closed. Geez! For such a tiny kid, how could she be so strong!?_

_ And then came the goodbye kisses…_

_ "AMY! __**EWW! **__Cut it out!" Sonic shrieked, feeling blood rushing to his cheeks as Amy covered his muzzle with smooches. He tried to wiggle and squirm out of the younger hedgehog's arms, but it was no use. That little girl had him in a death grip. "HELP! Somebody make it stop!" He managed to strangle out._

_ At that, Amy finally released him indignantly, and he collapsed on the ground on all fours, gasping. "Oh come on, I wasn't hugging you that hard!" She exclaimed._

_ Coughing, Sonic rubbed his throat and glowered at her out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, yeah. Speak for yourself." Amy normally would have liked to clobber him, but she was saying goodbye this time, and she actually felt a little hurt by how he was acting. She thought he would've appreciated her hug goodbye, or at the very least he'd be a little more patient with her since she was leaving._

_ "But…don't you like me, too?" She asked, her voice becoming as soft and demure as a hurt child's._

_ All of Sonic's quills stood erect in fear and he winced inwardly. How was he going to get out of this? Amy didn't seem to get it through her head that he only liked her as a friend and fan and that was it. She wholeheartedly believed he had a crush on her as big as hers on him and he was simply hiding it. He didn't like to lie, but if he told the truth Amy would probably kill him! "Um…well, I-"_

_ Before he could answer he was interrupted by a loud train whistle that reverberated throughout the area._

_ "Oh…" Amy sighed. "Well, I-I gotta go!" Quickly she planted one more goodbye kiss on the side of his head and was gone._

_ Rolling into a sitting position for a moment, Sonic just groaned and fell back in the grass. To himself, he gratefully thanked Mobius for getting out of that alive._

_ "Uh…Sonic? Are you okay?" Tails asked as he finished packing his things into the Tornado, which was floating placidly in the water at the edge of the town. In the cargo-hold of the plane, along with his small toolkit and his backpack to hold any Power Rings that he came across was the neatly-wrapped leftover cake from the party. Amy had let him have it as a farewell gift._

_ "Peachy." Sonic mumbled. His neck was sore from Amy's hugging, and his muzzle was still a little warm with embarrassment from Amy's smooching. Oh yes, he was __**perfectly**__ fine._

_ Despite being so young Tails' immediately caught on and giggled. Sonic just moaned. "You ready?"_

_ "Uh-huh! Everythin's all set up." Tails patted the Tornado, just beneath the cockpit. "And Amy was really nice to let us have the rest of that cake."_

_ Sonic snickered at that, remembering how much Tails had…appreciated the party cake. The kit had been so excited he dived right in when the it was brought out, literally. "Kid, you've got a sweet tooth problem."_

_ "Hey!" Tails gave an indignant squeal that would've melted _

_anyone's heart. Even Sonic had to fight back a laugh. "Not funny…" He pouted when Sonic teasingly patted his head._

_ "So, should we get going?" Sonic asked. Tails' annoyed frown instantly faded with a childish smile. "Sure!"_

_ Both boys leapt onto the plane just as they had earlier that day. Tails started up the plane, and with Sonic balancing on the wings, the Tornado took off into the orange sky. Hundreds of water droplets feel off of the buoys of the plane, catching the sunlight before they landed into the body of deep blue lake water below._

_ Neither of them new where they were going exactly, but that was the best thing about a new adventure, in Sonic's opinion._

The sun slowly and smoothly rose over the horizon, bathing the land in a crisp, twilit light. The early spring sky was checkered with clouds, as if someone had shredded them and tossed them haphazardly across the dark blue heavens. Fog hung in patches across the fields, some almost smothering the farms across the land, the bodies of water, the forests and the small, dozy, lakeside town in the center of it all.

For a long while, all was silent. All was still, until the soft thumping of running feet could just barely be heard, followed by the loud hum of a plane engine.

The forest was all a blur of green, browns, and dappled light above as he ran. The fifteen-year-old dashed from side to side, this way and that, just barely dodging the thick tree trunks and leaping easily over logs and roots poking out of the ground. The wind rushed into his green eyes, racing through his long quills and dark blue fur. Sonic laughed loudly, gleefully. Ah, running, there was nothing like it!

Just above, a red biplane piloted by an eight-year old fox with two tails flew above, temporarily halting the specks of light that illuminated the leaves as it passed. The Tornado flew along, surprisingly able to keep pace with Sonic. Tails moved the control stick to avoid crashing into the tallest of the trees, the Tornado responded immediately and obediently, as if it knew that its primary pilot had become even more of an expert over all of this time.

Sonic exploded out of the woods and into the wide plains. His feet moving in a red blur, he raced along a small corn field-that had yet to have tiny shoots come up, thanks to the cold weather-and onto an elevated path between two farms. The sun, so strong despite the cold weather, warmed his fur and made him smile contently. The Tornado soared high above him, casting a large shadow beside the hedgehog.

The path was long, but it lead to a small series of pearl-white buildings standing proudly beside a lake. It looked just like it had when he had last seen it.

"Hey!" Cupping a hand around his mouth, Sonic called up to Tails. The keen-eared fox poked his head out to the side of the plane. Sonic pointed forward. "That's the place!"

Tails looked ahead, and Sonic saw his blue eyes go wide. The fox turned back to him and shouted. "Sonic, is that the town where we-?"

"Yep!" Sonic replied. "We're right back to where we started."

After a few moments Tails took a sharp turn-with Sonic breaking off of the path to follow-and set it into a glide over a nearby pond. In an explosion of mist, the plane landed easily in the water, eventually lightly bumping against the wall of the pond. Tails drove it to the water's edge as the propeller slowed to a stop, creating the illusion that it was transforming from a spinning disc to two yellow metal sticks.

Sonic kicked up dirt and grass when he skidded to a stop, careful to keep a safe distance from the pond. Looking over at the distant town, he chuckled. "Ah, the nostalgia."

Tails looked at the map clipped to the dashboard. "According to the map, we just half to head north to Knuckles' home." He said. Tracing his finger from the small dot labeled "Vennest" all the way up to another spot labeled "Amethyst Hikari", the place closest to Angel Island.

"Cool!" Sonic replied cheerily. "So we're close!"

Tails didn't respond, he instead pressed a button on the dashboard, causing the cargo hold's lid to pop open. The fox stood up and turned around on the seat. Keeping a hand on the Tornado's fuselage for balance, Tails opened the lid all the way and examined the contents inside. Then he let the lid of the hold close and turned around to face the town, looking thoughtful. "Hey, Sonic?"

"Yeah, bud?"

"Do you think we have time to stock up? We're kinda low on screws, and we could use some more blankets…" Tails replied, his voice trailing off uncertainly.

Sonic's brow creased in confusion. "Can't we hold out until we get there? It shouldn't be that far, right?"

Tails hesitated, his ears folded back timidly. Sonic immediately felt a hard knot in his stomach. _Oh, don't tell me!_ …"Right?"

Tails weighed the options in his head. What would be worse? Telling him now, or waiting for him to find out? He never figured out the answer, however.

Sonic took a deep breath. He saw how worried Tails looked, and instead took it for his cautious nature. He was just worried that they'd crash while flying due to some loose screws and bolts. At least, he _hoped_ that was the case. "Uh, sure bud. Go ahead." He chuckled. "Like you always say, you never know when we need to stop for repairs!"

Tails' head shot up. "Y-yeah. And we're gonna need some thick blankets. The city looks really far north."

"No prob, buddy. You head on in, and I'll watch the plane." Sonic playfully patted the Tornado, the sound was like hitting a soup pot.

"Um-well, I…okay." Tails didn't really feel comfortable going in on his own, but he was just going to get supplies and come back, it hopefully wouldn't take ten minutes.

Sonic gave the kit an encouraging smile and reached out to playfully tousle his head fur. "Don't worry, you'll be fine!" Tails smiled a bit, feeling a little more comfortable. "Okay."

Sonic waved as his best bud hurried off towards the town. Seeing the hesitation in the kit's muscles, he suppressed a sigh. Tails was his best friend, the closest friend that he had ever had. But it always bothered him how the boy got so uptight by merely being in the same _vicinity_ with people other than Sonic himself. Sonic was hoping that maybe Tails would start to get a little more comfortable with people by going into town alone, but judging by how hurried and uptight Tails looked, it appeared to be a futile chance.

_ Ah, well._ Sonic gathered his wits and climbed onto the wings of the plane, trying to ignore the water below. _He'll grow out of it one of these days._ With a happy sigh, he lay on his back across the grey wings, hands behind his head and stretching out. He gazed over at the town, letting his mind wander.

Four years ago Sonic and Tails had taken off from that town and started a long sight-seeing across Mobius. The two of them spent all of their time, up until this moment, traveling and seeing all that Mobius had to offer. They had traveled across the continents, over the oceans, going to all kinds of cities and towns and meeting new people. Sonic had run across fields and over mountains, across wild rivers and deep underground, always with Tails by his side. The two Mobian boys had grown over their travels, and now they were right back to the town where they had begun.

And now they were paying a nice little visit to Knuckles as a little sign of friendship...that is, they'd catch up while Sonic would annoy him every second. "Boy, he'll be surprised!" Sonic snickered to himself at the mental image of the echidna's face. Surprise, there'd definitely be surprise. And maybe even some horror…he was glad he came up with this idea!

Sonic would be stunned he Knuckles didn't react. It had been four years since he had seen that knucklehead, just as long as he hadn't seen Amy. Despite the fact that crazy girl often used to exasperate him to no end, Sonic felt a pang of guilt. Should he visit her, too?

Probably not, now that he thought about it. Amy was older now. She probably grew out of that crazy fan girl phase. She probably forgot all about him! But still, Sonic couldn't help feeling a little funny about that. …A _little_ funny.

_ Looks like more than one person's forgotten, now…_A little voice in his head hissed. Sonic groaned. Not this again. A single little thought had been nagging at his brain for quite a while.

Robotnik. Just as he hadn't really seen Amy or Knuckles, Sonic hadn't seen even the tiniest glimpse of Dr. Robotnik-_not once_-ever since his adventure and the destruction of the Death Egg.

It wasn't as if Sonic actually wanted to see him, though. If that guy had just left for good or something, he'd be totally happy! But that wasn't the case.Sonic had been chasing him for almost a year before he had destroyed the Death Egg, and he had actually learned a good deal about the crazy scientist, and his most defining trait was his persistence. He never stopped trying to both destroy the land and Sonic, he always kept his robot army at hand. Wherever he went, Robotnik always left a metallic mark on the world.

But now, ever since Sonic had destroyed his "greatest creation" as he called it, Robotnik just seemed to have…disappeared. It was just so weird. All four years, no robots terrorizing anybody, no giant explosions of smoke or steam, no steel empires being built, nothing! Sonic had traveled all over, he had wondered about this, wondering if the scientist really _had_ given up. Surely if there wasn't a sign of his work, he must have surrendered! It made sense, given his largest and deadliest project was so easily defeated, but still…

With a small sigh, the hedgehog decided to put this out of his mind and closed his eyes. He had thought about this stuff before, and he kept on going in circles in his head about it, there was no point.

He must have dozed off for a few minutes, because the next thing he knew he heard the rapid rattling of metal against wood as Tails hurriedly returned. The poor kit was almost teetering back and forth, struggling with the multitude of thick, colorful blankets he held in his arms, along with the wooden box of screws he had wrapped in his twin tails. "I'm back."

Sonic sat up immediately, despite how drowsy he was only a few seconds ago. "Cool!" Opening the cargo hold, he leapt off the Tornado and rushed over. "Here, let me help."

Tails practically slumped as the blankets left his arms. "Thanks!"

Sonic grinned, tossing the blankets in the cargo hold. The neatly folded cloths all unfurled in midair, landing in the cargo hold in a wrinkled pile that was anything but organized. Some even landed outside of the hold, either on the ground or dangerously close to the pond. Tails just sighed, placing the box inside as Sonic hurried around, grabbing the runaway blankets and tossing them in before firmly shutting the hold. "There!" Sonic pretended to dust his hands off. "We ready?"

"I guess so." Tails replied. He climbed into the Tornado and started it. The air became alive with the hum of the engine.

Sonic stretched his arms and legs out, rocking back and forth on his heels. Tails gripped the plane's controls and pressed the fuel pedal. In an explosion of dust and mist, they took off for the North.

The weather gradually grew colder as they traveled, and the sky became increasingly cloudy. Eventually tiny snowflakes began to flutter down and settle into both Sonic and Tails' fur. Soon the two witnessed the flat plains below turn into rolling green hills, and eventually the rounded tops of the hills became the sharp, rocky peaks of mountains. On the far left horizon, a silver line of ocean could be seen.

Sonic hastily paced across the Tornado's wings, walking so fast the cold barely bothered him. _Let's go visit our friend, I said._ _The place can't be the far, I said._ He thought to himself. He groaned inwardly. _Dear Mobius, when we get there, please let it be worth all of this __**WAITING**__._

"Are we there yet?" He asked Tails hopefully.

Tails examined the map, tracing his finger on the paper. "Uh-uh. It'll probably be a while."

"Probably?"

"Well…" Tails hesitated. "I'm not totally sure, everything looks the same, so really…"

"So, isn't this city on the coast?"

"Yep, but 'cause you don't like water so I decided wait awhile before we go over the ocean."

"Ah," Sonic grinned. "Cool, thanks!" The less water he saw, the better. But still, that didn't to anything to hinder his impatience.

Barely ten minutes went by. "Are we there yet?"

"Nope."

Another groan.

About five minutes passed. "Are we there yet?"

"Not yet."

A grumble.

Barely a minute went by this time…"Are we there yet?!"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"No."

Sonic collapsed on the cold metal, flat on his back. "Oh sweet Mobius, I can't take this!"

Tails bit his lip to keep from laughing. While usually anybody would be beyond annoyed that a _teenager_ would be asking a five-year-old's favorite question, this was actually a normal thing. Sonic loved flying the Tornado with his friend during their travels, but the problem was it was only when they _didn't_ have a particular destination. Sonic always got excited when he had a specific place to go, and when the land wouldn't allow Sonic to run for either it was too unstable, or if it were water, the speedster instead asked if they were almost at their destination every five to fifteen minutes. Every time. Every. Single. Time.

Suddenly a particularly freezing wind collided with the plane, sending snowflakes in the boys' faces. Sonic shivered and rubbed his arms. "Geez, you're lucky." Sonic said, glancing enviously at Tails, who was comfortably snuggled in his long, fluffy…well, tails. The fox kit shrugged. Sonic sighed. _If I were running, I'd probably be warmer…_

Sonic gazed at the snowflakes falling around, keeping his eyes on a particular one as it fell past the plane and towards the green, white-speckled ground below. "Y'know, I just don't get why you said it wasn't a good idea to run through these mountains. The place really looks totally safe!" The hedgehog turned back to his friend. "You know I've run across mountains before, what's the big deal about this? I don't see a single thing down there!"

Tails frowned. "I dunno, Sonic…" Reaching for the map, he unclipped it from the dashboard and held it out. "The map warns us about this place."

Sonic took the fluttering paper. Right next to the name "Amethyst Hikari", he saw, in very tiny printing. _"Warning! Mountain range infested with dangerous inhabitants! Do NOT travel by foot!"_

"Ah." Sonic understood immediately upon reading "dangerous inhabitants". "You'd think they'd put something like that in bold print, huh?" He handed Tails the map back, then rested his hands behind his head.

"Hey, bud?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we there yet?"

Sigh.

Suddenly the Tornado shuddered violently as if it were hit by a large rock, then it began to keel over, it's right wing tilting up dangerously high. The entire plane had been hit by a particularly powerful series of winds, and now it was helplessly being pushed to the far left.

Sonic yelled in alarm and latched onto the freezing metal, flipping onto his belly to get a better grip on the edge of the wings. The metal almost froze his furless stomach, but it was better than falling off. Tails screamed, hastily trying to both keep from falling out of the cockpit and trying to regain control. Quickly he began to panic, moving the control stick in all directions as the wind drove on relentlessly.

The Tornado managed to straighten a bit, it flew up high and dropped back down, trying to escape the powerful gusts, but it still kept getting pushed away. The land rushed below them, snowflakes and even tiny bits of ice practically slashed the faces of the two Mobians, and the wind screeched mercilessly.

"We're being pushed towards the ocean!" Tails cried out, watching as the deep blue water, that was only a sliver on the edge of sight a few minutes ago, seemed to grow larger and larger. It become a river, then a wide lake, and then the ocean in mere moments as they drew closer towards the shore.

Sonic opened one eye-really risking the ice and snow getting into it-to look at the growing amount water. "Oh, _come on_." His fingers practically broke through the seaplane's wing when he tightened his grip.

The gales pushed on, getting wilder and more violent before throwing the Tornado out over the ocean in a massive burst of freezing air. But it didn't stop, it stubbornly pushed them further and further away from the land-prompting another "_Oh, COME ON!_" from Sonic.

And just like that, the gales just left just as quickly as it came, the wind rapidly declined into nothing more than a gentle breeze. Snowflakes stopped speeding down, and the falling ice disappeared entirely.

The Tornado flew completely upright now. Sonic let go of it and peeked over the rim of the wing. Seeing all of that dark blue and _very_ deep looking saltwater caused him to make a sound in his throat that sounded like this: "_Eeeiiighh…_" And slowly creep away from the edge. "You okay there, bud?"

The poor kit looked anything _but_ okay, in all honesty. He was shivering in fear in his seat, his eyes owlish and even a little wet, and his breathing was uneven has he fought back tears of fright. "Hey," Sonic said in a much softer tone. Tails looked up at him. "It's okay, we're okay!" He reached over and tousled Tails' fur, grinning. "It was just a gust of wind, we've been through worse."

Tails took a few deep, shuddering breaths. "R-right…" The feeling of someone patting his head actually did reassure him a little. After a moment when the older Mobian let go, Tails started to look around, tilting the Tornado ever so slightly so it began to slowly circle in the air, like a hawk looking for prey.

Their position seemed to be just the opposite as before. They had been pushed way out over the ocean. The land was hardly more than a thick line of green in the distance almost completely smothered by the falling snow. "Geez," Sonic mused, looking at the faded green. "That was quick."

"Yeah…" Tails gazed around, occasionally checking the map, hoping to find a landmark that might help them.

It caught his eye almost immediately. "Hey Sonic," Tails pointed out of the plane, "Look!" Sonic followed his gaze curiously.

It was an island, and a big one at that, with a set of mountains forming a huge ring on the landmark.. From what they could see, among the snowflakes the entire, multileveled island was covered in many different shades of green as new leaves came in upon the diverse trees inhabiting the land. The plant life slowly crawled up the mountainsides, coming to a stop more than halfway up, revealing peaks as dark as storm clouds that were soon covered by the low, grey clouds.

Sonic whistled, impressed, but Tails' brow furrowed. "Wait," He looked about, then examined the map. "That's the only island around. There's only one on the map around here, and it's right next to the city. We can't possibly be-"

Sonic let out an involuntary yelp when Tails abruptly turned the circling Tornado around in a sharp hundred-degree turn. The Tornado whipped away from the island and headed towards the land.

Sonic was barely able to prevent himself from falling, lunging forward and grabbing the wing's edge again. "Hey!"

"Sorry, Sonic!" Tails said. "But I think we're closer to the city than we thought."

Sonic immediately got excited. Oh, finally! Finally he'd be able to get off of this crazy plane and stretch his legs! "Well, what're we waiting for! C'mon!"

"Okay." Tails pressed harder on the fuel pedal, and the wind rose from a hiss in their ears to a whistling scream.

Their destination appeared quickly, almost materializing on the land, in the large valley that it was nestled in. While it was impossible to make much out at their distance, six white skyscrapers showed themselves, looking as if they were made out of the snow itself.

"Well, look at that." Sonic said, he let out a whoop. "Finally! We're here!"


End file.
